Boca Del Infierno
by PoeticLife
Summary: The Cleveland hellmouth obviously wasn't left unprotected during Buffy's time at Sunnydale. This is the story of the teens who beat back the second-rate hellmouth. (Uses elements from Buffyverse and Angelverse.)
1. Prologue

**If there's a hellmouth in Cleveland and the world isn't destroyed or overrun with vampires, then the people on that hellmouth must be doing a decent job. They don't have a Slayer, but there are obviously some people over there doing something, even if Giles did describe it as second-rate.**

 **This will not have canon characters in it, this will mainly be my own characters and stories with details taken from the Buffy/Angelverse. It may make a few references to what happens in Sunnydale, because it happens at the same time as this does, but that's about it. Let me know if you're interested and I'll post the next chapter.**

* * *

"We're going to get it," Roy Everett promised, his voice insistent. "We're going to get it, and once we get the gig and we actually play, and they actually listen, we might even get to play at Johnny's!"

Eliza Scott gave him a _get real_ look. "And how will we do that without a pianist or vocalist? Mel left, and she hasn't said a word all summer. Her mum said she left with her father for Washington, and she didn't say goodbye to the people she'd been friends with for four years? We're not talking kindergarten to grade three here, we're talking the important years, grade five to nine. And now we might be going to grade ten without her, which I'm sure will be absolutely fabulous for our band, right? Forget about playing Johnny B. Goode's for a while, Roy."

She stood up, leaving the throne on her drum kit empty and throwing herself into one of his ridiculous beanbag chairs. "Sorry, that wasn't really about you, it's just... she could've left us a note, or wrote a letter, or gave us a call, or told us in person at the end of the school year instead of leaving us waiting for her for two hours at a Starbucks. Why couldn't she just have said something?"

"She might be so busy she can't," Roy suggested. "It's been a few years since she's seen her dad, remember. Maybe they don't get along as well as they used to and she's been forbidden to use the phone or something equally stupid."

Eliza played with a hole in the beanbag chair, her dark hair long enough to obscure her face in spite of the short bob, leaving him unable to see her expression. "Well, she'd better be back for school next week."

* * *

The alley was deserted, and the pain behind her eyes was building to the point where she could barely see straight. Mel Clarke put her back against the wall so she would have something to keep her from falling to the ground in pain, and clutched her head as she tried not to scream.

A scene played itself out in her mind of a girl about her age, fighting vampires a few blocks away. She didn't have a stake, but she fought like she was born to and and wore a cross around her neck. Her nose was dripping blood down her face.

Mel gasped in a few breaths of cool evening air, then stooped to pick up some conveniently placed pieces of wood and broke into a run, ignoring the pain in her head. The vision had let her know where to go, and she ran until she heard the sounds of a fight.

Five vampires, demonic faces showing, were taking turns beating up the girl, who was getting tired and injured. Mel stabbed one through the back, piercing the heart and making the vampire crumble to dust.

The girl looked up, surprised, as Mel tossed her a stake. They made short work of the other four, leaving them standing in the alley, staring at each other.

She was an intimidating sight, standing there with blood dripping off her chin and blond-brown hair sticking to the blood, which she brushed off impatiently, her other hand holding the stake Mel had thrown her. For a moment, it looked like she was getting ready to attack again. Instead, she tilted her head and said, "Thanks. Are your eyes, um supposed to be like that?"

"Not usually," Mel admitted. "Part-human. You going to kill me too?"

She stared at Mel, at her milky eyes that turned back to grey when she blinked, at her pale skin and dark hair, at her casual stance. Apparently liking what she saw, she shook her head. "Nah. I'm Tamera, Tamera Bains. If you call me Tamara I'll have to kill you with your own stake. What's your name?"

"Emmalyn Clarke," she replied, her mouth twitching into a smile. "Mel to most people."

"I'll remember that," Tamera said simply, before walking down the alley, leaving her standing on her own in vampire dust.


	2. First Day

**Sorry it takes me so long to post... I don't always have a way to put this up here. Please review and tell me what you think of this.**

"If she's here, I'll kick her ass," Eliza muttered, waiting outside the school. Her dark hair was being blown into her face by a slight breeze, hiding the fact that she had actually bothered with makeup, however small the amount. She might have been wearing jeans and a t-shirt as usual, but her boots were a small comment on the fact that she had finally acknowledged that she was a girl.

Roy managed to look reasonably handsome, having done nothing but brush his blonde hair and wash his face, which was turned towards her. "Eliza, stop worrying. Mel will be here so that you can do and say whatever you want to her."

"Lets hope," she said furiously. "You've heard this from me all summer, but if she doesn't give me a decent reason not to-"

"Would you call being trapped in a house with someone who might actually be insane an excuse?" Mel asked from behind, trying to ignore the sick, anxious feeling in her stomach. She had a feeling that Eliza wouldn't forgive her for leaving like she had, even if she had been forced to. "My mum gave me a packed bag and told me to go with the strange man. I would've told you, but..."

Roy stepped lightly on her sneaker to get her to stop talking. "Mel, we missed you, you're back, you didn't abandon us on purpose, it's all good. Eliza will have something different to say, but you're good with me."

She smiled a bit, fighting the simultaneous urges to burst into tears and hug him. "Thanks, Roy."

Eliza looked her straight in the eye, not smiling but not looking particularly upset. "Two months, Mel. Count them. Two. Sixty-two days you could've used to tell us where the hell you were. God, you're lazy."

They beamed at each other for a moment, and something like optimism filled her at Eliza hugged her as tightly as she could. They stayed in the hug for a few seconds before she was released.

"Oh my god," Mel said quietly, looking at Eliza with shock. "Mascara, combed hair, high heeled boots, the perfume you stole from me last April as a joke and never gave back? What happened, Liza?"

"Two months," she replied, though she was smiling this time. "And you've got a new scar on your neck?"

For a moment, Mel looked nervous, but her tone was casual and her face quickly returned to grinning. The scar was in a crescent shape on the side of her neck. "I know, looks like a vampire or something, right? My aunt's Pomeranian. They may look furry and cute, but their teeth _hurt!_ Oh, shut up, Roy."

He tried to stop laughing. "Sorry, Mel. It's just... a Pomeranian? Those little dogs? One of those did that to you?"

"Pomeranian dogs are terrifying," she defended herself. "Anyways, what have you two been doing?"

"Hanging around Johnny B. Goode's, hoping to pick up some things from the musicians playing there. Did you know Michelle Hannigan can play the guitar? I mean, she only played a bunch of As and Ds, but she can play them," Roy explained. "And that ice cream place has a new flavour, Marshmallow Twist. It's great. Eliza went by there a lot to flirt with the guy working there."

"I didn't realize he had already graduated," she admitted, looking slightly ashamed. "He was way older than us, but he looks like he could be in our grade."

Mel bit back a smile. "So how's the situation with everyone else at school? I mean, Michelle plays the guitar?"

"And Tony can play drums seriously well," Eliza continued. "We've seen Adrienne a few times. She mocks us, as per usual, mostly Roy the last time we saw her because she can't very well mock me about my makeup use, or you know, lack of it. She just said the usual snide remark and walked out cackling."

"Hm," Mel hummed, frowning. "I still don't understand what she has against us."

She shrugged. "Adrienne doesn't need a reason. She just is."

Mel didn't quite agree, but before she could say anything, someone caught her eye. It was Tamera, her nose looking considerably better and her hair braided out of her face, walking up the steps to her school. She hadn't been expecting to see her so soon, and considered approaching her before thinking better of it. The girl barely knew her, even though Mel had probably saved her life. She wanted to know how Tamera knew about the demon side of the city, though, and intended to find out.

"Earth to Emmalyn, Earth to Emmalyn," Eliza said, waving a hand in front of her distracted face.

"Don't call me Emmalyn, Elizabeth," Mel replied. "I'm here. What's your first class?"

"Math for both of us," Roy told her, not looking particularly happy. "First thing in the morning. It should be made illegal."

Mel glanced down at her schedule and sighed. "I've got Science. I'll see you in..." she scanned their schedules. "Socials, I guess, then in English."

The bell rang. "See you in Socials," Eliza said as a goodbye, and walked the other way. Roy smiled at her and left.

* * *

Mel walked into Socials after a fairly dull review of safety rules and a course outline in Science. She sat down, using her special strategy of sitting in the second row, so she wouldn't be in the first row and look to eager but wouldn't be so far back she couldn't see anything. Looping the straps of her backpack onto the back of her chair, she turned around and assessed her classmates.

Summer and Karyn were sitting right behind her. Mel didn't particularly dislike them, but she had had to sit next to them in French last year and listen to them chat about their preferred way to curl their hair until she was ready to scream, and didn't have much affection for them either.

Sam and Lilly were sitting together in the corner of the classroom. Lilly Vale was only known to her as the best friend of Adrienne Acudus, the girl who everyone generally disliked for being cruel to just about every person she saw. Mel had usually stayed invisible to Adrienne, receiving only a few sharp comments, and Lilly hadn't said a word to her in four years.

To her surprise, the next person to walk into the classroom was Tamera. Mel indicated the seat next to her, and Tamera took it. Up close and in proper light, she noticed a small scar underneath her lip and a nose that had been well-set. Smiling, Tamera sat down and dumped her huge brown backpack on the ground by her chair.

"Hey," Mel greeted her. "I have a few questions for you, Tamera Bains."

"I have similar questions for you, Emmalyn Clarke," she replied, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting colour for your eyes, hm?"

Mel shrugged. "It's Mel, usually, or Mellie if you really have to add another syllable. And I'd rather not talk about that here. No one here knows anything about that, they just know I've been gone all summer. I saw you on my first day back in Cleveland."

"Are you free to come to my house after school?" Tamera asked. "I told my dad I saw you last night, and I think he wants to talk to you. I'm still not sure I can trust you, so I'm not giving you a direct invitation, but there are some questions we need to ask."

"Fine with me, as long as I can get some of my questions answered too," she responded. "If you're inviting me over for some poke-the-demon, then -"

"Wait, what?" Roy asked, taking a seat with Eliza, who was staring at them strangely, right behind them. "Poke the what?"

Tamera glanced at her friends and hesitated. Mel took a look at her face, realised that she was a bad liar, and took over. "It's a board game. I played it at my dad's and hated it. How was Math?"

"Don't ask, I'd rather forget," Eliza said, apparently unsuspicious. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm Tamera."


End file.
